Police in Kipipiri, Nyandarua county, are investigating the mysterious deaths of a woman and her teenage daughter in Manunga village on Friday, July 1.

46-year-old Damaris Wanjugu, and her 16-year-old daughter Hannah Njeri, were allegedly involved romantically with the family’s 23-year-old shamba boy, who attempted to take his own life.

According to Nairobi News, trouble started when the woman found out that the farmhand was also having an affair with her daughter, and confronted him about the issue.

The shamba boy allegedly attacked and strangled the woman on the said Friday when they both went to the farm to fetch fodder for the animals kept in the family’s compound.

He then went back home and allegedly invited the teenage girl to help search for her mother who was “taking too long to come back home from the shamba”, only for him to strangle her as well in the bushes.

Relatives of the deceased became worried when they did not see the two that day.

“My sister-in-law religiously turned up at the Mahinga trading centre to sell milk, so I got concerned when she didn’t show up. When I went to her house, I found the door uncharacteristically ajar, with no one in sight. This worried me, so I informed family members and fellow villagers about the situation, prompting a search for the two,” narrated Nancy Njoroge, a relative of the deceased.

The woman’s body was located at about 9am deep inside the large farm.

Her daughter’s body was found hours later following reports that Wanjugu’s shamba boy had sought assistance at a nearby home after attempting to take his own life.

Police said a piece of nylon sack that had been used to strangle Hannah Njeri was still around her neck, and that she may have been raped before being killed.

The deceased’s family denied that the woman and her daughter were involved in a love affair with the farmhand.